


resting place

by gazing



Category: Desert Hearts (1985)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Kissing, Overworking, Post-Canon, Romance, Short & Sweet, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-19 03:09:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29868246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gazing/pseuds/gazing
Summary: "I'm about to be very cross with you." Vivian  grumbles. Still, still, there's a flush of pleasure rising in her, a blush of happiness that she still desperately tries to hide. Because if Cay sees it, it's equal to vulnerability."Oh, are you?" Cay laughs, "Come on, Vivian. You've been working all day. Come to bed."
Relationships: Cay Rivvers/Vivian Bell
Kudos: 6





	resting place

"Cay." Vivian scolds, pushing her reading glasses up her nose.

There's a tickle of Cay's by her cheek when Cay leans over her shoulder, and nuzzles Vivian's neck with her face. Her dark hair spills over Vivian's skill, like ink on paper, and her lips are warm against Vivian's skin. They're still slightly unfamiliar, and they still send that hot, nervous thrill down Vivian's spine.

"Cay, I'm working." Vivian says, and she tries to remain stern but that's never bothered Cay. In fact, Vivian has begun to suspect her hard tone spurs Cay on even  _ more.  _ She has brought it upon herself to challenge Vivian on every occasion, to push her until she gives in. And always, without fail, she melts in Cay's hands like warm butter.

Vivian sighs, but she isn't truly disgruntled. She loves her life, now. They have an apartment in New York City. It's a small place, and it's noisy with the sound of traffic and yelling even late into the night, but Cay is here, and that's all that matters. That, however, is easy to forget when Vivian is halfway through a lecture plan, sitting at her desk chair, and Cay has wrapped her arms around her neck.

"I'm serious." Vivian warns, and Cay chuckles into her shoulder.

The laugh sends a warm rumble through Vivian body, and Vivian, though frustrated, finds the light and bright sound of Cay's laughter hopelessly endearing. She's become adjusted to these conflicting feelings, since they arrived in New York. The fears and furies of new love and the comfort and joy that Cay brings with her intermingle. Blur together like wet paint.

"I'm about to be very cross with you." Vivian grumbles. Still, still, there's a flush of pleasure rising in her, a blush of happiness that she still desperately tries to hide. Because if Cay sees it, it's equal to vulnerability.

"Oh, are you?" Cay laughs, "Come on, Vivian. You've been working all day. Come to bed."

"Just an hour more, darling." Vivian says, her eyes focused on the words in front of her, that blur and fade when Cay holds her closer. She realises suddenly that the endearment had slipped from her without her permission. She catches her startled face in her reflection in the window and quickly smooths her expression into something calm, collected.

"No." Cay presses a kiss behind her ear, catching strands of hair. She's in her dressing gown - Vivian can feel the warmth of it against her back and she sighs, leans back into Cay, feels the pleasure beat the harder, more repressed parts of herself melt.

"Yes." Vivian says, "Only an hour, Cay, I promise."

Cay takes a moment, then sighs. When she stands Vivian watches Cay in the mirror and admires every inch, every curve of her. Her hair is pretty, when she's tired and she's ran her fingers through it all day, and her eyes are heavy with the night. In the moonlight she's ethereal and Vivian almost says  _ yes, yes, I'll come to bed with you. _

"I'll make you a cup of tea." Cay says, and presses a kiss to her forehead before shuffling into the kitchen

This a sort of routine, between them, now. Vivian is enticed to the bed, drawn from her overworking habits and insomnia into Cay's arms, where she sleeps better and deeper than ever before. She wakes with the sunrise, to Cay's kisses, and there is joy in the two of them, twinkling like stars or... a string of lights, wrapped around their hearts.

Vivian can no longer read her own words, her own notes. Truthfully her eyes sting with exhaustion, and she  _ does  _ want to curl into Cay's arms - she finds it's the only thing she longs for when the sun sets. Vivian listens to the kettle whistle in the kitchen with a warmth in her chest and, by the time Cay has returned, Vivian is leaning back in her desk chair, her reading glasses folded on the surface of the desk.

"Here." Cay says, and places the tea on the desk. Vivian smiles and her eyes flutter open. Cay looks down at her, and smiles when she sees the look on Vivian face. "What?"

"C'mere." Vivian murmurs.

She can't meet Cay's eyes. Vivian still shy sometimes, still hopelessly trapped inside of herself when it matters. But day by day she is more comfortable and Cay... Cay is someone she can trust. Cay is home. And she is so patient with Vivian that Vivian can't help but bloom and open like a flower in spring. In return, Cay is just as open, and while they clash sometimes there's no other life Vivian would want to live.

Cay leans down over the desk, a curious spark in her eyes, and Vivian runs her hands over Cay's cheeks and kisses her softly.

"Coming to bed?" Cay asks. She rises and holds out a hand.

Vivian looks up at her, caught in Cay's dark eyes. She is so grateful to have a warm bed to return to.

"You know I love you, Cay, don't you?" Vivian asks.

Cay blinks.

"Huh?" She asks. "Where did that come from, all of a sudden?"

"I just don't say it enough." Vivian stands, her mug of tea in one hand, and presses a warm kiss to Cay's cheek. "But thank you, for taking care of me."

"My pleasure." Cay says. Her smile is crooked, charming and young, and Vivian adores it. She pinches Cay's cheek before padding into their bedroom with her.

They have their own sides of the bed. They have their own ways of sleeping - Vivian curls up and Cay sprawls out. In the morning Vivian wakes smothered by her, warm and safe in the grip of Cay, and she closes her eyes and savours those precious minutes in her embrace for as long as she can. After all, once she leaves the bed she'll face reality. Under the sheets with Cay is fantasy, plain and simple.

When Vivian crawls into bed, Cay gets in beside her, and as always she clings to Vivian. It's as if she thinks Vivian will disappear, if she doesn't hold her hard enough.

"I'm not going anywhere." Vivian chuckles, but she leans back into Cay's embrace. With her eyes closed in the dark she feels held, and can imagine their two shadows mingling.

"I don't know that." Cay says. Sometimes she gets like this. All of a sudden she's melancholy, fearing abandonment and loss, rejection and pain.

Vivian turns in her arms and kisses her sweetly. It's a shy thing, reassuring and warm despite how fleeting it is.

"You should." Vivian whispers, "After all, you're the only person I'd ever let drag me away from my work."

Cay holds her tighter still, a warm presence that smothers every inch of Vivian.

"It's not that important." Cay murmurs, pressing a kiss to the back of her shoulders.

"Yes." Vivian admits. "Compared to you, it isn't important at all."

She feels Cay smile, against her skin, and imagines it leaves an imprint.

"Well." Cay whispers, "You aren't a very good scholar, Professor, are you?"

"I never have been." Vivian says, and kisses her again.

**Author's Note:**

> watched this movie for the first time last night n it made my heart so warm <3 just imagined this n wrote it.


End file.
